Pygmalion social class. Social Classes in The Play “Pygmalion” 2022-10-12
Pygmalion social class
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Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw, tells the story of a Cockney flower girl named Eliza Doolittle who is transformed into a lady through the tutelage of a phonetics expert named Professor Henry Higgins. One of the main themes in the play is the issue of social class and the rigid hierarchy that exists within British society.
At the beginning of the play, Eliza is a poor, uneducated flower girl who speaks with a thick Cockney accent. She is looked down upon by those in higher social classes and is treated with disdain by Higgins and his friend, Colonel Pickering. Despite this, Eliza has a fierce determination to better herself and escape her circumstances. She is willing to undergo the grueling process of learning proper speech and manners in order to become a lady and improve her social standing.
Throughout the play, Shaw uses Eliza's transformation as a commentary on the artificial nature of social class and the way it is used to discriminate against and oppress those in lower classes. Eliza's transformation from a Cockney flower girl to a lady is seen as a remarkable feat, but it is clear that it is only possible because of her natural intelligence and determination. Shaw suggests that social class is not a true indicator of a person's worth or potential, and that it is possible for someone from a lower class to rise above their circumstances through hard work and determination.
However, Shaw also uses the character of Professor Higgins to explore the limitations of social mobility and the ways in which those in higher classes often fail to see the humanity of those in lower classes. Despite the fact that Higgins is responsible for Eliza's transformation, he treats her as a project and fails to see her as a fully developed human being. He is unwilling to see past her social status and treat her as an equal, and this ultimately leads to their strained relationship.
In conclusion, Pygmalion is a thought-provoking exploration of the issue of social class and the ways in which it affects the lives of those caught within its rigid hierarchy. Shaw uses the character of Eliza to highlight the artificial nature of social class and the potential for those in lower classes to rise above their circumstances, while also using the character of Higgins to illustrate the limitations of social mobility and the dangers of failing to see the humanity of those in lower classes.
Pygmalion: Social Class and Liza
. In the play, this social change can be seen in the characters of both Eliza and her father. Higgins a man of may with the best payed education is the mentor of Liza. The play illustrates how significant social class and education is in the English culture. Shaw demonstrates what the social hierarchy was like during this time period and he also portrays his feelings on it throughout the book.
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Language And Social Class In Pygmalion
Importance Of Standardization Of English Language 1762 Words 8 Pages Finally, for mainly historical reasons, certain English dialects or varieties have been viewed more positively than others. This adds to the theme of the difference in the way the classes are treated. Conflicts There are several conflicts in this play. His authorial voice provides an insight into his displeasure at the way lower class citizens are treated by the aristocracy upper class. Shaw also takes care to use this judgment solely on language to ridicule the superficiality of upper class.
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The Comparison of Social Classes through Analysis of Pygmalion
Setting Order custom essay Pygmalion: Social Class and Liza with free plagiarism report The setting of Pygmalion is set in England around the late 1800s and early 1900s. Higgins, the man observing Eliza, gives her a hard time. He uses the Eliza character to reflect the middle class because of her uncouthness because she wants to be good and not better. The real basis for one's reaction to anyone's dialect is one's association of particular kinds of speech with particular classes and particular manners. George Bernard Shaw is shown to be critical of society and its conforming classes, both lower and upper statuses. This shows that one could tell the difference between the classes just by looking at the clothes of the individual. Higgins' teachings, though, have actually hindered Eliza's transition from one class to another by removing her from her original social class and forcing her "not one but several rungs up the class ladder" Dukore 288.
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Social Classes in The Play “Pygmalion”
Higgins transforms the flower girl into an upper class duchess, and this is why Higgins forgets about her as soon as transformed her because he won the bet. This very transformation, though, does have its perks. In this manifesto the most important ideas will be identified and explained. Pickering teaches Eliza to have self-respect for herself by treating her as a lady. Though she has fulfilled her duty as a lady, she sits, stony, miserable, and stunned, apart from her two "sculptors" chatting away of their victory.
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Pygmalion Social Class Essay
He also mocks Eliza because she is always caught up in the middle-class crisis of being a good woman who should be respected, but she lacks that dignity Amkpa, 1999. He is not allowed to do menial labor and suddenly there are relatives coming over wishing to claim a bit of his wealth. Therefore, the manner in which social class differences are enforced is through manners and proper codes of behavior. Wannafeller and becomes middle class. Shaw shows through Eliza that people are more likely to respect others by the way they speak. Doolittle reluctantly finds his way to fit into his new position and a change of class is accepted as respect is gained.
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The Significant Social Class In Pygmalion, By Bernard Shaw
Alfred differs from Eliza in this aspect, for he is thrust into a higher social class, not by updated speech or manner, but by money. Eynsford Hill is not aware that this is a manner in which those who are of a lower class address each other, so she is led to believe that her son and Eliza know each other. Clara takes offense, and her pushiness is clear especially her desire to attain self-respect and move from the slums in achieving the independence of the bourgeois world. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon. In conclusion, Shaw is depicted to be critical of the conforming classes in the society, especially the lower class and the upper class. The middle class is seen to be negligent in teaching language to their children.
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Depiction Of Social Classes In Pygmalion
This difference in treatment now that he is deemed important emphasizes the difference in treatment of the same person before he was wealthy and after he was wealthy. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, there are underlying issues throughout the plot involving classes of the characters, and their roles within their class. In addition, as a respectable man now, Mr. Symbolism and Imagery: One of the symbols in this play is chocolate. The lower class is also shown in the play when Eliza is forced to persuade her last few coins from the opera-goers. In this society to be a lady is not just about how you are as a person but how well you were educated and how much money you have to have received this education that classifies you as a lay or a gentleman.
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Social Class in Pygmalion
The manner in which he thinks and talks is incomparable with individuals in the lower class. Not only is Eliza changed into a noble lady, but her father also inherits a sizable sum of money from the rich American Ezra Wannafeller. This sweeps Higgins off. I could pass you off as the Queen of Sheba. I touched pretty nigh everybody for money when I wanted it, same as I touched you, Enry Iggins. Shaw effectively conveys to the mud! In the chocolate dish before leaving his house, Liza leaves a sentimental ring given to her by him. If you come back, I shall treat you just as I have always treated you.
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Pygmalion: Social Class and Doolittle
Her future can only be decided by a man, forasmuch as she has to choose to either go back to living with her father, to continue living with Higgins, or to marry Freddy. Throughout the novel, Shaw keeps the contrast between working class and the middle class by using strong characters from both sectors. This is validated later on when Colonel Pickering and all who come to respect her refer to her as Miss Doolittle, until they are more familiar, and even if she is still the same person, perceptions change and while she was introduced as a commoner she can be believed as a lady of great social stature. Critiques consider that Shaw was close to accepting the social order in the society because he used this vulgarity of specific dialect to criticize the superficiality of both the lower class and the upper class. For example, the opening scene of the scramble for taxis amongst a crowd, "the acid test of the middle-class manners," is disrupted by the flower girl trying to coax money out of her prospective customers 142.
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Pygmalion: Social Class and Eliza
Doolittle is now likely no longer able to go out drunk anymore. Higgins writes a letter to Ezra D. The Eynsford Hill family, for example, is wealthy, but as Mrs. Dukore alludes to the point that "a member of a particular social class is revealed not only by his speech and behavior, he is revealed also by the way in which he is treated" 288. The title has mythic and suggestive appeal to it.
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